Chapter 14: The Tear Heals

It took Eugene and the horse a total of 15 minutes to get back to the Tower. Not bad, considering that it took him 2 days to leave it before. Eugene jumped off the horse as soon as he started to slow. "Rapunzel!" He cried out.

No answer. Then she was definitely in trouble. "Rapunzel, LET DOWN YOUR HAIR!"

Still no answer. Nervously, Eugene tried to look around for a way to climb up the Tower. Some of the bricks were still loose enough, but without even his arrows…

A door squeaked from above. Eugene glanced up, just in time to see 70 feet of golden hair spiral down. Eugene grabbed onto it quickly, trying to find the best footing he could, and pulled.

Eugene Fitzherbert had never been the most athletic kid at the orphanage. And Flynn Rider, despite his other talents, wasn't much better. Despite that, Eugene didn't let himself slow down. A life was on the line. A life that he really cared about.

As soon as he reached the top, he scrambled into the room. "Rapunzel, I thought I'd never see you—" He froze as he saw her. She sat on the floor, her arms chained behind her and her mouth in a gag. She tried calling out to him, her green eyes full of worry.

It occurred to Eugene what she wanted to say just as it happened. A searing pain shot through his stomach, and Eugene collapsed to the floor.

"There." A woman's voice spoke, and the figure walked over him. "Now no one will bother us. Come on, Rapunzel, we're leaving."

Eugene's vision grew blurry with pain. He could just make out Rapunzel getting farther and farther away as the woman pulled her back, her green eyes even wider now. He saw Pascal as he darted forward to help, and was just as easily tossed away. He heard, though. All too well he heard Rapunzel's muffled complaints and the chains as they dragged her back.

"Rapunzel really!" The woman protested. "Enough already! STOP FIGHTING ME!"

"NO!" Rapunzel shouted as the gag slid off. "I won't stop! For every minute of my life, I'll fight! I'll never stop trying to get away from you!" She heaved, trying hard to regain her breath. "But, if you let me save him, I'll go with you."

"No, Rapunzel!" Eugene tried to protest, but his voice was even weaker than hers was.

Rapunzel continued. "I'll never try to escape. I'll never fight you. Just let me heal him, and I'm all yours. Everything will be like it was. I promise. Just. Let me. Heal him."


Agnus was going as fast as he could. The path to Rapunzel's Tower was nearly identical to how it was two days ago, if not even shorter. None of this, however, made Merida slow down. Even if they did have some time to spare, she didn't want to waste any.

"You sure this is the right way?" Jack asked as he flew next to her.

"Positive!" Merida yelled back. Occasionally, she would see just the faintest image of a Wisp by her side.

A loud cry echoed through the air. Merida slowed down ever so slightly to glance up. A dragon flew overhead. It wasn't Toothless. It was a bright scarlet, with large spikes and claws extending from every possible side. All the same, though, Merida could just make out Hiccup leaning over him and waving before it lowered down.

"Say hello to a Monstrous Nightmare." Hiccup greeted.

Merida didn't glance its way. Mostly because it was getting harder to navigate through the trees.

"So, once we finish whatever quest we're on now, I need your help back in Berk. My dad took all of the Vikings up to the main dragon, and they don't stand a chance!" Hiccup said.

"Great! Does anything else want to happen today?!" Jack grumbled.

"It does'nae matter!" Merida said. "The Wisps are on our side!"

"Where are we going, anyway?" Hiccup asked.

"Rapunzel's Tower!"

"What? Aren't they back in the town?"

"I checked." Jack answered. "Nowhere in sight."

As the Tower came into sight, Merida jumped off of Agnus and rushed forward. She froze as she saw the other horse nearby. The Guard Horse. Quickly, she raised her bow and scrambled for an arrow. The Guard Horse, however, shook his head and whinnied wildly.

Merida furrowed her eyebrows together in thought. "I din'ae speak horse!" She yelled back.

The Guard Horse seemed to roll his eyes, and carefully and harshly gestured his neck to the top of the tower.

It clicked. "Rapunzel's in trouble!"


Rapunzel scrambled to Eugene the second her hands were uncuffed. "EUGENE!"

He coughed and sputtered in response. Rapunzel winced. She knew that the injury would be bad, but this was hard to look at. Carefully, she took his hand off of the wound and tried to get a good look at it. All she saw was an angry mess of red before she jumped back herself.

"Okay, everything's going to be fine…" She murmured as she grabbed her hair.

Eugene held a hand out in front of her, as if to stop her. "No-" He coughed again.

"Please, you just have to trust me…"

"Please Rapunzel," Eugene broke out into a coughing fit. "I can't let you do this."

Rapunzel looked at him. "I can't let you die."

"But if you do this," Eugene tried again, between gasps. "Then you, will die…"

Rapunzel tried to shush him, and gently cupped his face with her hand. Eugene glanced up at her, making perfect eye contact for the first time. Rapunzel bit back a wince as she saw just how weak he looked.

"It's going to be okay."

She closed her eyes and took a breath, ready to sing. "Rapunzel…" Eugene spoke again. Rapunzel glanced back down at him. Slowly, Eugene raised a hand to her face, carefully brushing the hair out of her vision. Just like he had back at the boats. Just like before they kissed. Realizing this would be their only chance one way or the other, Rapunzel leaned in.

69 feet of golden hair fell to the ground.

Rapunzel didn't even realize what happened until the shard of glass tumbled out of Eugene's hand. "Eugene!" She gasped and she reached for her hair. Even by feeling it, she could tell that it was dying. What remained of the magic hair now either laid on the floor or fell into jagged pieces around her neck.

"NO!" Rapunzel heard Gothel yell. Rapunzel grabbed the rest of her hair, watching as the gold was tarnished. Mother tried to scrambled up the parts by her, but it too was becoming brown all to quick. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

All too quickly, Mother wasn't the same Mother anymore. Her skin became covered in wrinkles and her hair was becoming as white as snow. But it wasn't just that she was getting older. She was rotting.

Gothel dashed to what remained of the mirror to examine herself. Once she saw, she screamed back in horror, drawing her cloak around her to shield out prying eyes. She stepped backwards, screaming like she was in agony…

And tripped.

Rapunzel wanted to catch her. Really, she did. But even if she had gotten up, there was no stopping the inevitable. The body never made it to the ground, instead drying up and decaying in midflight. All that remained of Mother Gothel was the cloak, which hit the ground with a soft thud.

Rapunzel glanced down to the source of the tripping. What remained of her hair, as pulled by Pascal, and a large, wooden staff that curved into a hook.

Merida and Hiccup were the next to come in, frying pan and bow at the ready. Rapunzel only had a second to process them before she realized Eugene was still there. "Nonononono…" Rapunzel stuttered as she pulled Eugene back up. "Come on Eugene, stay with me…"

Eugene let out a weak cough.

"No no no! Come one Eugene!" She grabbed his hand and put in on top of her head. "Flower gleam and glow, let your, power shine." Nothing happened. No marvelous light shows, no glowing hair, no healing. "Make the clock reverse bring back what once was mine…"

"Rapunzel." Eugene said weakly. Too weakly. Rapunzel fought back tears as she looked down at him. Carefully, he brushed the hair out of her face again. "You were my new dream." He spoke nearly in a whisper.

Rapunzel took his hand. "And you were mine."

There was a light gasp, and even lighter sigh, and then nothing.

And that was how Eugene Fitzherbert died.

Time slowed after that. Nobody dared to interrupt them, and even if they had, Rapunzel wouldn't have let them. She drew Eugene up closer and leaned down, so that their noses were practically touching. "Heal what has been lost," She continued, hardly singing above a whisper. "Change the fate's design. Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine…what once was mine."

The first tear collided onto Eugene's check.

It was about 20 tears later when Rapunzel realized what it was doing. It was glowing, a bright golden color even brighter than her hair could produce. Eugene's stomach began glowing as well. All of a sudden, the golden stripes began shooting out of him, engulfing the room and steadily rising upward. Rapunzel looked back down at his wound, where the golden lights were making a solar design. Once the lights cleared, Rapunzel glanced back down at the wound. Gone, with only slight smears of blood to show it had ever been there to begin with.

"Rapunzel…" Eugene gasped. "Did I ever tell you…I have a thing for brunettes?"

Rapunzel laughed and tackled him into a hug. Once he was sitting up properly, Eugene responded by pulling her into a kiss.


Author's Note: Today's chapter title is brought to you by Spoilers. Spoilers: if you haven't seen the movie, then why are you reading this anyway?

Say goodbye to Mother Gothel everyone! She will not be missed. (I mean, sure, there are probably people who love her as a villain and they're not wrong but she's also a child abuser so it's hard to be sympathetic to her.) And thus wraps up the Tangled plotlines. But what of Berk and Burgess? We have two more chapters left, so stay tuned!

(Another fun bit of trivia: I intended for Gothel to trip on Jack's staff to fall. I removed the line of dialogue that says that explicitly because it seemed to be too light-hearted in a scene where two characters die, one by literally rotting alive and falling out a window.)